List: The world’s best inventions weren’t made for profit.

Economics Political Theory
1

1. The internet. (The government & Tim Berners-Lee.)

2. Penicillin. “Florey believed it would be inappropriate to patent penicillin, but learned his lesson when some of his American collaborators did just that… Florey took no profit for himself.”
— http://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,33700,00.html

3. The computer - “This came from pure scientific thought, and not at all from an economic need for computing. Business and profit-making played no part in it.”
— http://turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/machine.html

4. AC power & modern electricity. (Tesla)
“Money does not represent such a value as men have placed upon it. All my money has been invested into experiments with which I have made new discoveries enabling mankind to have a little easier life.”
— http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

“Yet Tesla died destitute.”
—http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Nikola_Tesla.htm

5. Phone. “Meucci was recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the US House.” “[He] was unable to raise sufficient funds to pay for the patent application… In 1861 his cottage was auctioned.”
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meucci

6. Lightbulb. “Göbel [invented] the first practical bulb… in 1854, a quarter of a century before Edison’s patent.”
—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Göbel

Yes he died pennyless too.

7. Radio. “Tesla is now credited with inventing modern radio as well; since the Supreme Court overturned Marconi’s patent in 1943 in favor of Tesla’s earlier patents.”
—http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Nikola_Tesla.htm

8. Almost everything else - through state funding of science, medicine, & university research.

The point? While we all love for-profit economics, let’s not exaggerate their role either. At best they tend to succeed after government acceleration of new technologies.

from
http://newsrogue.com/list-the-worlds-best-inventions-werent-made-for-profit/

Guys, no one is denying that profit improves products, we’re just asking for a little honesty. Yes profit motive leads to cheaper & better products… but creativity, altruism, & government had a big role too.

Ford didn’t invent the car, he invented the cheap car. The Wright brothers didn’t invent the first airplane, they invented the first good airplane. (the “three axis-control” method.)

In other words, liberals don’t “hate markets” or “worship Marx” - we love our laptops & our porn - but please don’t exaggerate, & please don’t simplify reality.

2

You are clearly out of your element here. If you are implying that inventions/innovations aren’t procuced by individuals/groups operating out of self-interest, then you need to re-examine your beliefs.

3

Alright but who invented sliced bread?

4

Why does any of this matter?

You surely don’t want to take profits from anyone who does enjoy them, right?

5

Question: who cares? What was the point of this thread?

-Jon

6

Exactly. In addition, even if something is invented by someone who cares more about fame and attention than money, profit-seekers always improve upon it.

7

Lol, I should have asked myself this before I took the time to read through the whole thing at post a comment.

8

mr_anonymous: "If you are implying that inventions/innovations aren’t procuced by individuals/groups operating out of self-interest, then you need to re-examine your beliefs. "

It wasn’t me who implied that, it was the inventors themselves:

“This came from pure scientific thought, and not at all from an economic need for computing. Business and profit-making played no part in it.”
— http://turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/machine.html

“Florey believed it would be inappropriate to patent penicillin, but learned his lesson when some of his American collaborators did just that… Florey took no profit for himself.”
— http://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,33700,00.html

Ego: "You surely don’t want to take profits from anyone who does enjoy them, right?"

Obviously no one said that. Hint: 99% of debating conservatives is explaining what you didn’t say. It’s just how polite people slander other’s with offensive stereotypes & myths… “Liberals believe [random evil.]” … “No we don’t.” Repeat.

The point of this thread is obvious, to help you guys understand that both government & altruism have played a big part in technology - to help you understand that real politics is more complex than “evil liberals vs business.” We’re not against business - you never hear anyone complaining about the greed of Steve Jobs & Apple corporation.

In other words, I’m trying to debunk libertarian slander, stereotypes, & myths. No one is denying that greed can be good, but the over-simplification by libertarians isn’t being fair to the real complexities of the world.

9

Let’s take look at your smug, condescending comment for a moment. Aside from the fact that there are probably no conservatives here, you’re simply a liar:

You said that you don’t want to take profits from individuals who do enjoy them. Really? You don’t want to tax? Yes, you do; you’re a leftist! You don’t have to explicitly say, “I want to tax” before others are allowed to state the obvious.

[:)]

10

Are you going to answer my question?

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Ego: “You said that you don’t want to take profits from individuals who do enjoy them. Really? You don’t want to tax? Yes, you do. You don’t have to explicitly say, ‘I want to tax’ before others are allowed to state the obvious.”

First off, libertarians support taxes & so did the founding fathers. The real debate is how to tax & I didn’t state my tax beliefs, so don’t assume. We’re not practicing some ideal government, we’re paying for the wars of conservatives.

Frankly if you want to blame someone for high taxes blame yourselves because it’s you guys who almost always vote republican:

“the real news is 2004. The libertarian vote for Bush dropped from 72 to 59 percent” (72% in 2000)
– http://cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6735

Here’s a hint: we have no choice but to raise taxes for the spending you guys voted for. Again! It never ends. And if your party voted for Bush twice, you’re conservatives.

12

So in other words, you came here to attack a strawman. Well, I’ll let any conservatives here know when I see one.

-Jon

13

No, we don’t. We’re not LP hacks.

14

I’m not going to allow you to squirm out of this one. Earlier you said that you do not want to take any profits, and you lectured me about assuming things about you that you didn’t explicitly say. When confronted about your lie, you said that libertarians and the founding fathers want to take profits, too! How ridiculous can you guys be?

Stop accusing us of being Republicans and/or fake libertarians. We’re not. Aside from the fact that I’ve never voted before, I’ve never encountered anyone here who is in favor of taxation.

The main point is: Why did you lie and state you didn’t want to take profits? Did you think anyone would believe you?

[:)]

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“When confronted about your lie, you said that libertarians and the founding fathers want to take profits, too! How ridiculous can you guys be?”

Try learning before typing!

“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States”
– The constitution

And have you read the libertarian platform? It’s full of “reducing” taxes, not eliminating them.

Besides, there’s more ways to tax than to take profit - like having a gas tax to use the public roads, etc, etc. I told you - we democrats don’t have our ideal government, we’re paying for the spending you guys voted for.

“the real news is 2004. The libertarian vote for Bush dropped from 72 to 59 percent” (72% in 2000)
– http://cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6735

16

Again, what on earth are you talking about? If you want libertarian views, read Rothbard’s For a New Liberty, Hoppe’s Democracy - the God that Failed, Friedman’s The Machinery of Freedom, Mises’ Liberalism,.. the list goes on. Cato is perhaps the least libertarian institution out there of all so-called libertarian organizations.

-Jon

17

Are you just trolling? We both know that I wasn’t challenging the obvious fact that the founding fathers supported taxation. I was challenging you for lying and then saying, “well they want to do it, too!”. Why did you lie?

Amazing. No one is this naive, not even a leftist. Where do you think sales tax revenue comes from? Thin air? If no one is having his/her money seized, there’s no tax revenue!

Aside from that, I have a sneaking suspicion that you fantasize about more than just sales taxes. Most leftists want progressive income taxes; what about you?

18

I think you are the one making assumptions. Just because many people here embrace libertarian ideals does not mean that they are fans of the libertarian party. I doubt you will find anybody here who is a fan of the LP. Get a clue dude and just stop talking, you are only embarrasing yourself by presenting your ignorance.

19

Ego… At this point, all you’re doing is arguing about semantics. (Like whether all money counts as “profit.”) Which is, by the way, completely absurd - there’s legal disputes, gifts, luck, etc, etc. I’m NOT trying to debate these semantics with you so if you continue to do so I won’t reply.

I’ll repeat myself yet again - the taxes we democrats have to raise are mostly conservative spending - so please inleast try to consider that we may behave differently if we had our ideal government. Libertarians are always ranting about their ideal government, but if you had a political party that inherited trillions in debt you might have to act differently than you’d want to.

20

No loss on our part.

-Jon